Air India- ways to avoid/minimize excess baggage costs?
 

Background: flying India domestic xxx-BOM (with 15kg allowance), staying 2 days, then flying BOM-USA on a separate ticket (with 2x23kg allowance).

The xxx-BOM one-way fare is INR 4000. Excess baggage cost is INR 650/kg, so 15kg = INR 9750.

Can I simply buy a 2nd xxx-BOM ticket (or the equivalent of 'extra seat') to get an additional 15kg allowance for half the cost?

I'm assuming the direct answer is no, but wondering if anyone has insight into other means.

Luggage is one of the biggest scams airlines in India are running today. You've highlighted it perfectly, and I've ranted about it before here. Sadly, the airlines didn't hear my rant over the sound of the cash registers. There's very little however that you can do other than pay the piper.. and I'm not talking about me. :(

Extra seats, though they cost the same, of course do NOT come with any baggage allowance. https://www.airindia.com/in/en/manag...xtra-seat.html

What you might consider doing is buying a flex fare ticket - that will give you 25kgs of allowance. Then either pay for the balance or figure out how to take it as carry on. While they have a weight limit, AI generally doesn't weigh carry-ons.

The best way to minimise international connection baggage costs is use Indigo's discount baggage fee for INTL connections within 48 hours.

I tried doing this once at the airport since it was much cheaper to buy another ticket than pay for extra baggage. But I was told it won't work.

[QUOTE=Maxwell Smart;36552400]Background: flying India domestic xxx-BOM (with 15kg allowance), staying 2 days, then flying BOM-USA on a separate ticket (with 2x23kg allowance).

The xxx-BOM one-way fare is INR 4000. Excess baggage cost is INR 650/kg, so 15kg = INR 9750.

Can I simply buy a 2nd xxx-BOM ticket (or the equivalent of 'extra seat') to get an additional 15kg allowance for half the cost?.
.[/QUOTE

How about this: Arrange to have your pal Ms. Smarter accompany you to the airport, buy a ticket for her to BOM, Check in together but have both bags checked to your name; later Ms Smarter abandons you before boarding. Voila!

They might try and offload one bag if she doesn't board the flight.

Yep, the bags gets offloaded from the flight if the pax is not boarded. Also leaving the departure concourse (and the terminal check in area) even on domestic flights is not so easy in India. The CISF will ask very pertinent questions and requires an airline employee to sign you out.

[QUOTE=puchong;36559457]
As others have pointed out, not only would the bag be offloaded, but getting out of the terminal would be a challenge for the non-traveler. Plus in this case, it is Mrs. Smart who is traveling, while I'll be on the other side of the planet!

Good to know about Indigo discount baggage option and will keep that in mind for the future. In this case, the domestic flight is on AI, plus it will be close to 65 hours in BOM between flights, so not an option this time.

So will be at the mercy of the checkin agent, worst case will have to pay the full amount, unless we can find a cheaper option through shipping it by courier the day before.

What sector is the domestic flight on? A number of courier service have popped up with desks inside domestic terminals to help with this. Indigo has their own version as well.

BDQ-BOM

A bit late, but BDQ-BOM could also be done by train. Given that it's a separate ticket, Mrs Smart won't lose the international connection.

Eventual (and most cost-effective) solution was to send bag via courier to family in BOM where she was staying for a couple days before her return to USA.